Zelda's Resentment
by Clavinerise
Summary: Following the events of Memory#5: Zelda's Resentment. The life of being the Princess Zelda's personal knight and the chosen hero takes its toll on Link. After being chased away by Zelda, Link has to figure out what to do.


_Recently, I saw the memory in BOTW where Zelda was telling Link to stop following her. I felt really bad for Link. I mean, it was his job after all to guard her and she hates him all of a sudden. __Damn girl, Link is struggling just as much as you are._

_Anyway, I wondered how this would all affect Link since he's always so silent about everything. Just my two cents on what happened after._

_Full disclosure though, I haven't played the game to the end, so __I apologize beforehand for the inaccuracies.__. I haven't even been to the castle yet. __I just couldn't continue playing until I had all this out of my chest. _

* * *

Link stood on a steep cliff overlooking the west of the castle. The castle was a majestic sight in the orange glow of the setting sun, but that wasn't where he was looking. His gaze was closer, towards the sharp rocks peppering the bottom of the cliff.

His feet inched closer to the edge, wondering what happens if he jumps off. Slowly, he stripped himself of his weapons, his tunic, and tights. Better that nothing obstructs the fall. There will always be a new hero.

Today was another tiring day. Since the time he was told that he was the incarnate of the legendary hero in stories and assigned to be the princess's personal guard, he felt the pressure of the entire kingdom on his shoulders. But today in particular, he felt the cold fear when he had lost sight of the princess. Everyone was constantly pestering him to keep her safe. That was fine by Link, he loved her as much as everyone else in the kingdom did after all, but it was especially hard when she pointedly tried to avoid him.

When he finally found her hovering around the entrance of one of those strange temples, he urged his horse to a gallop. She was safe! He jumped off his horse to run to her but as he approached, the glare Princess Zelda threw him made him stop stop in his tracks.

"I thought I made it clear that I am not in need of an escort... return to the castle and tell that to my father please." She walked pass him to her horse.

Link sighed in his mind. She was stressed, he thought. They were on the same boat—he was probably the only person alive who knew exactly how she felt.

But when he tried to go after her, she turned back and shouted, "And stop following me!"

It was her instructions verses the king's. Normally, when she was like this, he'd follow stealthily along behind her anyway. This was going to be impossible to do though on horseback, and he didn't want to pressure her even more with his company.

So he heeded her words... to an extent. He had to be near enough to help her if she needed it. Link decided to wait for her at the Tabatha Bridge stable which she presumably will go through to get back to the castle, or so he hopes.

"Hey you're back! Will you be boarding your horse?" the stable keeper shouts at him. They've known each other since Link was a boy, even before Link was declared the destined hero. Before he had been assigned to the princess, Link would often stop by here to tend his horse when he'd escaped training and went on his secret adventures. He treated Link as his own.

"No need sir, I don't think I'd be long," Link answered._ Always the respectful boy_, the stable keeper chuckled to himself.

"Not with the princess?" he inquired, worried.

"She ran ahead. I'm waiting for her here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Link bristled. "Nothing I can do if she doesn't want to be followed."

The stable keeper knew what Link felt about the constant pressure of being the princess's personal knight, he himself couldn't imagine the burden of the seventeen-year-old, but this wasn't what he meant. "I'm not worried about the princess—"

"Link!" a knight emerged from from where they kept the horses. He was an elder knight, allowing his horse to rest in the stable on his way back to the castle after delivering a message for the king.

The stable keeper groaned. He was beaten to it. Again, Link will have to face the wrath of the castle. He's heard the rumors even if Link wouldn't admit to it.

"Where's the princess?" the knight asked as he came closer to the boy. Link stood straighter, recognizing his superior.

"She was at the ancient columns near the temple in the Tabantha region when I last saw her sir. She told me not to follow her so I'm waiting for her here"

"You know better than to leave her alone. The king explicitly gave you instructions to protect her with your life," the knight said.

"I know sir, but—," Link tried to explain.

"As knights, we have the duty to protect the royal family. You especially should know this. Find her immediately and keep by her side. When you return to the castle, I'm sure the king would like to have a word with you." Link winced at this statement as the knight left.

The stable keeper watched what transpired with empathy.

Link mounted his horse, getting ready to chase after the princess. The stable keeper approached bringing with him the aroma of apple pie reminding Link that he hasn't had a meal since the quick simmered fruit he had before departing after the princess in the wee hours of the morning.

"You're tired, Link. Here's a little something for you. Stay a bit inside, we have an empty soft bed, my treat."

"Thank you but he was right," Link muttered, looked down at his hands, guilt engulfing him. "It's my duty to look after her. It was what I was born to do," he added bitterly.

The stable keeper shrugged and went along with it. They have a strange way of thinking in Central Hyrule. "Well if that's the case then I was born to be supporting characters, and you have to just accept what I have to offer."

Link gave him a small smile, but still looked doubtful.

"At least take the pie. Accept the bed another day."

Link gratefully accepted, and ate the thing whole, making the stable keeper wonder how the boy has been eating. He _was_ short for his age.

Link quickly waved him goodbye as he set off towards the road where he came from. At about the same time, they heard the galloping of a horse—two horses actually—quickly approaching.

"Link! Help!" They heard the scream of the princess just as an arrow exploded just to the side of the stable. The princess appeared with a Lynel at her trail. The stable keeper was frozen on the spot, cowering at the sight of the towering beast that was now shooting arrows everywhere. Link on the other hand jumped into action right away. He galloped to the other side of the road whistling, drawing the attention away from the stable and the princess.

When he was a distance away, Link jumped off his horse while simultaneously drawing his bow at the beast, shooting multiple arrows at one go. As he landed, he drew his sword and shield, parrying and striking faster than the normal eye can see. He was a blur as he wound around the Lynel until nothing remained but its organs and weapons. Link quickly picked them up for later research and ran back towards the princess who watched with a mixture of fascination and fear from her mount. She loved watching him fight, but she hated it when she was the cause of it.

"Are you okay?" Link asked panting from the exertions of battle.

Princess Zelda blushed, grateful but too proud to admit to her errors at telling him off earlier. "Yes, I'm fine. Now please hurry so we can reach the castle before nightfall."

Link looked up at the princess in surprise and nodded, relieved that he didn't have to go back to the castle without her again. He summoned his horse from across the road, and they headed for the castle with just the wind from the speed of their galloping horses in their ears.

As they arrived at the castle grounds and dismounted their steads in the meadow to allow it some respite, he spied the other knights from the corner of his eye, some staring with sympathy while some avoiding his eye altogether. The knight told on him. Of course he would. Anyone would if they saw him resting in an inn while the princess's whereabouts were unknown.

He walked past everyone and saw the princess to the throne room where the king and Link's father were talking. They turned towards them as they entered, but before anyone said anything, Link bowed quickly in the direction the king and ran off towards his mount, ignoring everyone's gaze as he galloped away from the castle, not slowing down until the castle was far behind him. Then he started leading his horse towards the mountains he always loved exploring as a child, far west but still within view of the castle.

Up on the cliff, separate from the reality of his fate, he felt freer. He longed for those days of playing hero with the Zoras. Link wished it was all still just a game, not an inescapable reality. Back when he was doted as a child, and not looked up to as a destined hero.

"There will always be a hero to save Hyrule," he remembered his teachers saying.

As he looked down at the jagged rocks below, Link wonders how things will end if he lets go now.

Standing in just his barest clothing, he succumbs to the temptation of an easy death. _Just let it be someone else. Let the next chosen one wield this sword._

As he closed his eyes and lifted his foot to take the plunge, he felt an breeze blowing him back. He opened his eyes and saw the green dragon flying past him. The name escaped him, but he was sure it was one of the dragons in his books... a guardian of something...

"Have courage. Your efforts are not in vain, young hero."

Link looked around find the voice, but no one was around. The words seemed to have drifted to him from the wind. He suddenly saw before him a vision of Princess Zelda, defending his acts today from the king and the council of knights. He was flooded with warmth that made him hesitate from what he was about to do. Were these signs from the goddess Hylia? Or was this a blessing from the spirit of the hero? He didn't know. But it was enough to make him take another step back.

Link redressed quickly. He would return to the castle and face whatever he had to. He will not run away.


End file.
